Kakay: In today's Brazil, only the prosecution has a voice.

Criminal lawyer Antonio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, once again pointed out the excesses of Operation Lava Jato; according to Kakay, Brazil is experiencing a moment in which "only the prosecution has a voice and a say"; "There has been a loss of control limits on the part of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which liked the position of hero, which believed it was a hero," he says; "The authoritarianism, the spectacularization of the criminal process has reached a point where the defense is only heard to fulfill a ritual."

January 16, 2017, 12:54 AMUpdated June 29, 2018, 10:33 pm

Criminal lawyer Antonio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, once again pointed out the excesses of Operation Lava Jato; according to Kakay, Brazil is experiencing a moment in which "only the prosecution has a voice and a say"; "There has been a loss of control limits on the part of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which liked the position of hero, which believed it was a hero," he says; "The authoritarianism, the spectacularization of the criminal process has reached a point where the defense is only heard to fulfill a ritual" (Photo: Aquiles Lins)

247 - In an interview with Carta Capital magazine, criminal lawyer Antonio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, once again pointed out the excesses of Operation Lava Jato.

According to him, the Judiciary occupied a power space left by a president of the Republic lacking legitimacy and a Legislature cornered by numerous corruption allegations. "There is no power vacuum. From the moment you have an Executive branch without credibility, a cornered Legislature, a super-Judiciary flourishes, which, as a whole, has occupied a space that frankly does not belong to it," he states.

According to Kakay, Brazil is experiencing a moment in which "only the prosecution has a voice and a say." "There has been a loss of control limits on the part of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which liked the position of hero, which believed it was a hero," he says.

"The authoritarianism and spectacularization of the criminal process have reached a point where the defense is only heard to fulfill a ritual. If it weren't heard, it would be an international scandal. The defense has no space; the parity of arms has been completely relegated to the background. To present an indictment, these prosecutors and delegates, and even the Federal Revenue Service, summon the media and spend two hours scrutinizing the life of the target. It is clearly illegal, unconstitutional. I want to know if the media will then give the defense two hours to rebut point by point. It's prejudgment," adds Kakay.

Read in full the interview.